Following the opening possession, they know a conversation is waiting.
Whether successful or unsuccessful on that first series, James Madison’s offensive line is trained to think ahead.
“It happens every game we play,” Dukes junior right tackle Liam Fornadel said of that first quarter meeting with their position coach.
Second-seeded JMU hosts Monmouth in the second round of the postseason on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Harrisonburg.
“It’s just how it goes,” he said. “Defenses love to show something different because they can’t keep it the same every single time or we’ll find a way to really game plan around it, so it’s our constant communication to get everybody on the same page.”
Fornadel, one of three All-Colonial Athletic Association choices on the offensive line for JMU, said no matter the result of a series, he, his fellow linemen and position coach Damian Wroblewski begin to figure out how to keep mauling the opponent’s front or how to attack the opposing defense before issues become out of control.
Senior center Mac Patrick joined Fornadel on the All-CAA first team and junior left guard Truvell Wilson was an All-CAA third-team selection.
This season, those three have led a group paving the way for nation’s 10th best rushing attack (249.3 yards per game) while yielding only 1.8 sacks per game to keep CAA Offensive Player of the Year and quarterback Ben DiNucci upright.
“It’s calm,” Fornadel said of those in-game meetings. “It’s usually [Wroblewski] asks what happens on certain plays and we’ll go over what we saw pre-snap and then throughout the play. It’s just constant communication and it’s nothing really chaotic, so everyone is calm and level headed.”
On Saturday, the Dukes are going to need Fornadel and company to continue to adapt as the game goes along based on Monmouth’s defense.
Both Fornadel and Dukes coach Curt Cignetti said the Hawks use an unfamiliar style of play. At times, Monmouth deploys four defensive linemen with their hands in the ground and on other snaps the Hawks show a three-man front with a standup player – normally, Erik Massey – on the edge of the line of scrimmage.
“Defensively, they’re maybe a little like West Virginia,” Cignetti said. “They call themselves 3-4. They’ll get in a three-down bear. They got different, multiple things that they do.”
Fornadel said: “I don’t think we’ve seen a team schematically like them. They have their own style. … They give different looks week in and week out and are consistent at trying to mix it up each week. They want to give you something that you’re not expecting.”
Only one regular-season opponent of JMU was more effective against the run this season than Monmouth (yielding 123.2 yards on the ground per game), but that was St. Francis, a team the Dukes shellacked 44-7 back in Week 2.
The Hawks have also forced 24 turnovers, with an astounding 18 forced fumbles and recovering 12.
“We’ve grown as the season has gone on,” Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan said about his defense. “I think there were a lot of new faces particularly in the front seven and as they became more comfortable playing with each other and came to rely on and trust one another, we’ve become productive as a defensive unit. And if there is a word to characterize what we’re doing on defense, I’d say we’re opportunistic.”
For Fornadel and the rest of the front, it’s business as usual though. Starters Fornadel, Patrick, Wilson, senior right guard Jahee Jackson and junior left tackle Ray Gillespie have combined for 127 career starts entering Saturday. Even Zaire Bethea, who plays regularly in a platoon with Gillespie, has started 19 times in his career.
“We didn’t really lose a lot of guys after last year,” Fornadel said. “So the group has been, for the most, the same. And getting the year of being together and the year of maturity has really helped us a lot, so we’re able to get on each other if one thing isn’t working as it should be or if we don’t understand something. It’s a lot easier for us to talk and just get everybody on the same page to focus on what we’re supposed to do.”
Late last month after rushing for 80 yards and averaging eight yards per carry against Richmond, junior running back Jawon Hamilton pointed out how it easy it was for him to run behind the Dukes’ offensive line.
“The offensive line is improving week in and week out,” Hamilton said. “They don’t come to play (around). You could see how Coach Wrobo is on ‘em every day, and I want to credit him too because he’s always makes sure those guys are on it and makes sure they’re blocking to put us in the best position to make plays.”
Hamilton and junior running back Percy Agyei-Obese both rushed for more than 100 yards in the regular-season finale at Rhode Island.
“It all starts up front,” Cignetti said. “Let’s not kid ourselves with the offensive line and tight ends being able to dominate ‘em up front is huge. That surge up front is huge. I think we ran for 390 in our last game against Rhode Island, but this will be a much, much stiffer challenge.”
